Canada Rejects Arab Protests on Sale of Jets to Israel

Canada’s Minister of Trade, C.D. Howe, rejected today Egyptian and Syrian protests of the Canadian decision to sell Israel 24 Sabre jets. The matter is a “purely commercial transaction” between the purchaser and a Canadian manufacturer, Mr. Howe asserted. “So far as I know, Egypt could do the same thing but they haven’t applied.”

In Vancouver today, Israel Ambassador Michael S. Comay characterized Egyptian protests as “preposterous” and asserted that the acquisition of 24 jet fighters “only partially corrects a dangerous situation created by Egypt.” He charged that the Egyptian-Czech arms deal of last year had “inflamed the whole situation” in the Middle East.